White Lotus
by starfight
Summary: Vila smiled to her master as she left the Dojo the snow falling lightly on her soft red hair that was pulled back in a high pink ribbon. For her whole life she was waiting for a mission and now it was her time to go and actually kill someone, it is her ti


Vila smiled to her master as she left the Dojo the snow falling lightly on her soft red hair that was pulled back in a high pink ribbon. For her whole life she was waiting for a mission and now it was her time to go and actually kill someone. She was a well-trained assassin under the instruction of Hon the Dojo master of the Northern-Face Mountain where snow fell all year round and the hot springs were the warmest in the land. Vila had grown accustomed to the snows and she no longer felt the crisp air against her bare legs where her white skirt didn't reach. Her arms and shoulders hung bare as well reflecting the white powder falling from the sky. She had her long slender sword tried around her waist, the red tassels swinging lightly at her side as she walked contently thinking about how fun this could be. Assassins were trained to find pleasure in death of others, but the key to any good assassin was to no longer fear death of one's self.  
  
Vila had grown up in the Dojo everyday training with Master Hon and another apprentice of his that Vila held a secret admiration upon until he left the Dojo on his own mission late one night in the late autumn not even telling her he was going. He was of course three years older than she and didn't realize how much he meant to her, not giving it a second thought he left. She had continued on with her training and now three years later here she was leaving as he did. Spring was coming to the valleys below and the blossoms of the trees were blooming wondrous pinks and lilacs. It would be a two-day journey to the bottom of the mountain from where she was. Secretly deep in her heart she hoped to meet the man that left an immature little girl at the age of sixteen in a Dojo on top of a wintry mountain. Now nineteen and focused on her training and mission now placed in front of her, her level of maturity out matched the scarce number of other girls at the Dojo that would leave at the end of spring.  
  
Her earrings swayed gently as she walked though the cluttered path down the mountain and her eyes blinked with each step she took in complete silence. Vila was feeling a rush of unsteadiness her heart beating at a rapid pace she was not used to feeling. It was a sensation of nervousness and excitement all at the same time. She stopped for a moment resting on a rock that had been brushed off of snow. She crossed her legs gently and counted to ten then released to ten. Hon had told her any feelings whatsoever would mean that mediation was in desperate need and had to be taken seriously. Vila had always followed her master's orders completely and knew that it would make her a better assassin if she kept up the regular routines of mediating at normal hours and practicing regularly. Most students of this trade normally disobeyed their masters at some point of time and Vila had nothing to do with any of the foolishness of the sort that most of the students conducted in the early mornings at the Dojo. She focused on her studies immensely and took them to the highest possible level. She enjoyed lessons with Hon daily and seemed to absorb every move he made and every word that slipped from his aged lips. She was spoken of greatly at the Dojo and Hon always praised her during group lessons. Of course group lessons would know longer give her the time to show off her impressive skill that she devoted her time and energy to. Things would be different out of the Dojo and even off the Northern-Face Mountain.  
  
She would get to feel the seasons change and watch normal people go about their lives. She had regularly gone down to town with some other students to get goods for ceremonies at the Dojo and that would be the only time that normal humans would be a focal point to her. She had always dreamed of meeting some of the normal people that sold vegetables and baked bread for a living, but she knew she was different from them and her social class was easily distinguished. The only merchant she knew was the fabric merchant who she bought most of her fabric from to make her own clothes at the Dojo. She wanted to be different from the other girls and wear something distinctly her. Thus her white skirt and sleeveless shirt hemmed in red with a soft pink stitched lotus blossom sewn to the bottom left corner of her skirt. She had wrapped her sword hilt in strips of white then took red yarn and crisscrossed them over the top attaching matching red tassels.  
  
Her sword was a gift from the boy that she had adored so much. The long lightweight blade had been made distinctly for her. The blade curved slightly across the bridge and shimmered with a silver gleam the hilt circlet was a fine gold. Vila opened her vivid blue eyes to see the snow still softly blanketing the sky and the aspens adding a hint of color to the barren landscape.  
  
She smelled the warm sulfur that arose from the hot springs as she stood and walked east turning off the path a little. She stepped lightly though the snow her white-heeled boots lined with white rabbit fur created easy warmth against the arctic dust. She faintly saw the hot spring up ahead, the rim of the water outlined with soft gray rocks and a small inlet she could use to undress and step into the warm waters. She quickened her pace a little and reached the inlet in a matter of moments. She took in a deep breath the air reminding her of the girl's baths at the Dojo some ways up the mountain. She quietly unclipped her boots and sword and set them aside then stepped into the water, her cloths instantly clinging to her frame and no longer stiff with frost. Vila sighed and rested a moment, she wasn't even off the mountain and already relaxing-she should be ashamed of herself to slack off so rapidly, but she didn't do anything about changing it. She drifted over to a rock over on the other edge of the spring and climbed up upon it her hair dripping lightly with warm water. Her clothes crystallizing again but she expected that. She crossed her legs again and counted to ten inhaling an icy breath then exhaling it to ten. She cleared her mind and fell into a quick trance of relaxation. Vila had no sense of what was going on around her. Now her body completely motionless and calm rested upon the top of the rock. Her breathing patterns were steady and her chest didn't rise when she breathed but stayed hidden in her flesh.  
  
Behind her, while not even realizing it a cluster of bandits were posted their leader a well built man around the age of twenty two with snowy brown hair that was softly laid over his scalp. His arms were muscular but were not covered what so ever and his legs were the perfect length and build they were concealed in black pants and his feet were wrapped in cloth strips. He was closest to Vila and he motioned his men to back up to let him handle this whole thing since there seemed to only be one person. He thought she was lost and decided to rest before resuming her search off the mountain. The men disappeared further into the woods patrolling all the springs around the area, leaving him here near Vila. He seemed lost in her calmness realizing this seems so totally wrong to kill a girl so content with freezing on a rock, each glance he took her skin seemed to get a paler shade of cream, now almost matching the color of the snow and her lips the color of the her eyes hidden behind the lids that he couldn't see. He actually started to worry if she was even alive once her skin started matching the stone she sat upon. A blue bird up in an ancient aspen whispered gently into the breeze as the sky deepened in a shade of gray.  
  
Ein smiled and raced out of the bushes wrapping his arms around her body and his own body hitting her at full speed. He pushed off the rock and launched her and himself off the rock and into the air then splashing into the depths of the warm water. Her eyes flicked open right before she was plunged into the water, her body instantly feeling the warmth running though her veins that once ran cold. She felt the presence of the arms around her and quickly struggled to get them off her so she could reach up to take a breath. No luck came to her but she relaxed as the strong bare arms rubbed up against hers and tightened while she felt the clothed legs kicking violently up to the surface. Her head broke the surface of the water her red hair missing the pink ribbon that once held it up. Ein let her go and backed off taking her squirming earlier that moment as a signal she was alive. Vila quickly swam to the edge running out and grabbed her sword that lay on the frozen ground. She ripped it out of the cover and pointed it at Ein the middle of the spring, the tassels on the end swinging fiercely. Her blue eyes held his gaze for several moments before he turned around and swam to the other edge mumbling things to himself as he crawled onto the small opening on the other side water dripped over his muscles and ran smoothly down his black pants. Ein ran his fingers though his hair and shook out much of the water. He stepped into the thick aspens and the Blue Bird still perched on the same tree fluttered off in the same direction over the trees.  
  
Vila seemed astonished by what he did and slipped her boots on quickly. She ran around the perimeter of the spring and darted though the aspens looking for the man. She wove in between rocks and snow drifts the trees blurring around her eyes from her speed. She stepped lightly though the snow, her feet barely making an imprint. She slid to a stop in a clearing not far from where she started off and she heard the blue bird whisper happily. Vila spun around in a circle her sword still out and ready as the group of bandits swarmed around her. The wind seemed to pick up a little blowing her red hair east across her face, snow seemed to fall a little heavier.  
  
"Now what do we have here Ein, I thought you took care of her?"  
  
"Who said that? Because surely I wouldn't kill a beautiful guarded woman in these clothes." Ein stepped into the clearing; his hair was a little whiter with the crystallized water on the ends. Vila stepped back a little only to run into another man as he shoved her forward towards the men coming into the clearing closer to her. Ein raised his hand and everyone stopped dead in their tracks. "Back away from the girl, I will deal with this, now go. All of you be gone from here until nightfall." His hand sunk below his shoulders as they all turned to go in their separate directions leaving Vila and Ein alone again.  
  
"I dare you to make a step closer." She relaxed her sword arm and stood at a lazy stance, which fooled her attackers, thinking she was not ready but she was ready in any position possible.  
  
"I dare you to put the sword down." His green eyes flickered as he looked across the snow covered opening. "You know you can fight without one easier than you can with one." Vila slid the sword into the casing and untied it from her waist and throwing it on to the ground some ten feet away. "You really want to do this don't you?"  
  
She nodded. "Don't go easy on me. You'll be sorry if you choose to disobey this statement." He stepped closer to her his arms up near his cheeks. She closed her eyes right as he threw the first punch; she slid to the right easily missing his fist. Her eyes twitched open glittering a brilliant blue against the gray sky. Ein tossed a high right kick missing her head by centimeters, but she grabbed his ankle and threw him over her head her left leg kicking his back and him landing face first into the snow behind her. "Now what did I say before?" She asked calmly not turning around to see the condition he was in. Ein stumbled upwards coughing up blood on the white snow.  
  
"You win, you can go freely though these forests without any disturbance of my clan." He remained kneeling wiping the blood off his lips and wiping it on his pants.  
  
"How can you assure that thief? As you stated earlier 'how could you kill a beautiful girl as me?' Your men probably could out of greed for what they do not know." Her voice calm and full of wrath.  
  
"I cannot assure anything."  
  
"I see." She turned and faced him and studied his composition then walked and bent over picking up her sword and secured it around her waist. "Good day to you then." She plucked a white lotus flower from a tree and let it blow off her palm. The wind carried it and dragged it in front of Ein who still knelt in the snow. He picked the flower up and smiled 'White Lotus.' He whispered as blood dripped onto the soft white petals.  
  
Vila stepped off resuming her intended path down the mountain; if she was lucky she could be half way there by nightfall. The snow slowly started to fall heavier as she paced lightly though the snow the folds in her cloths rustled with crystallized water. She could see the soft dim blurred glow of the street lanterns in the town below only a days walk away, she longed for a warm inn to stay at but if this mission required sitting in the snow, so be it. She wiped blood off her finger and smirked she never would have imagined to meet bandits in the forests of the Northern-Face. But maybe the world was much more different that she assumed. Billions of thoughts ran though her head at once making her feel lightheaded and she needed to lean on a tree trunk to keep her balance in check. A hand gripped her wrist tightly and she was startled when she saw it was the man she had left in the clearing awhile back.  
  
"The forest getting to you?" He smiled dimly his hair softly covering his face. "Come Vila you can stay by the fire."  
  
She looked away from him her hair swinging with the bitter wind her eyes blank with confusion. She stood her weight on her right foot and the tassels on her sword swayed. The forest stopped moving for a split second and her head cleared of all her billion thoughts.  
  
"You've grown up haven't you?" Her eyes turned intense blue tears forming in the corners that slightly froze as they rolled down her cheeks. With her free hand she unclipped a dagger from her boot and he saw the clouds flash over it. He dropped her wrist as she stepped forward her back still facing him. "Vila you know who I am now?"  
  
"Unfortunately Ein." She whispered her voice softly muffled with the thick clouds and snow.  
  
"Hon finally let you leave, and now look at you trained in the arts and you brought it to a new level. I can't believe you didn't recognize me."  
  
"I can't believe I have to do this." Her head bowed and her hair fell over her face shading her blue eyes. Vila took a deep breath tasting the sulfur on her lips. She spun around and released the dagger it breaking the threads of atmosphere as it flew past hitting Ein in the shoulder. His hand tightly grasped where the blade entered and Vila saw him fall into the snow that was slowly turning red from the blood that ran liberally down his arm. She sighed glad she hadn't hit him in the heart. She darted over to him taking his body across her legs, her hand supporting his neck. Tears fell freely now down her flush cheeks. He looked up to her and smiled.  
  
"I knew Hon always wanted me dead." His eyelids closed for a moment as Vila pressed her face against his. Her hand over the open wound in which she had inflicted. "He was just waiting for the right person to send, the one who loves me." "Ein, don't talk and that isn't true!" Her voice echoed in his ear.  
  
"Vila, I know how you felt. And I should have known this day would come when he released you from the Dojo's firm grip. But you were right to do this to me, I disserved it and now you are free to go without your first mission."  
  
She looked up to the black sky that had formed labeling the day had changed to the hours of darkness. Her eyes blurred as snow fell onto them still freezing her tears. Her hair fell back off her shoulders. "Ein I was sent to kill you not wound you." Her voice was faded and barely there to make out. Ein sighed and flickered open his eyes.  
  
"This is killing me, seeing you again, is killing me." He fell into a light slumber as the bleeding reduced. They sat there in the snow all night, him lying across her lap until morning entered the sky again cold and still gray but the snow had stopped earlier that morning. 


End file.
